Analytic plate with containment border

ABSTRACT

An analytic plate such as a microscope slide or a diagnostic plate and kit having the slide or plate, the slide or plate having a containment border for containing a liquid or liquid sample. The containment border is substantially transparent and is substantially flush with the surface of the slide or plate for containing the liquid or liquid sample disposed thereon and thereby preventing spreading or migration of the sample across the slide or plate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 09/021,077,filed Feb. 10, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,685.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of analytic platessuch as microscope slides or diagnostic plates and more particularly tosuch analytic plates having borders thereon.

Standard microscope slides and diagnostic glass plates are thinrectangular sheets of glass or plastic. In use, a sample comprising anaqueous or non-aqueous liquid, liquid reagent, biological fluid and/orbiological tissue section(s) is placed upon a portion of the slide ordiagnostic glass plate. Before analysis, the sample on the slide orplate may be dried, placed in a fixative, or remain fresh prior totreatment for enhanced visualization by light, electron, or fluorescentmicroscopy, and/or including gross analysis with the human eye. Thesample may be analyzed in its natural state or may need treatment withone or more liquid dyes to enhance visualization. Further treatment withmolecular biological techniques may include, for example, treatment bymonoclonal, polyclonal antibodies, in-situ hybridization by molecularprobes, and/or their liquid detection reagents. During routine analysisor manipulation of a slide or plate, the sample or liquid reagent mayspill from the slide, run or migrate onto other portions of the slide,and/or “wick off” if the slide touches another object, thus resulting ina loss of all or part of the liquid sample or reagent. It is desirous toavoid such inadvertent or undesired mixing or contamination of differentsamples or liquid reagents.

It is therefore beneficial for the slide to have means to confine thesample or liquid used in treating the sample to a specific area on theslide or plate. This has been accomplished previously by creating aslide or plate having one or more depressions, or “wells” therein.Alternatively, a physical barrier or hydrophobic material may be appliedto the slide surface in a bordered pattern to confine the liquid appliedto the plate within the area surrounded by the border. Such borders maycomprise a coating of teflon, paint, wax, paraffin, epoxy resin, orother resinous material, or a paint. Each of these materials results ina border having a thickness resulting in a raised border extending adistance above the surface of the glass, for example, a teflon layer maybe about 0.0025 inches high. These raised areas are generally opaque andthe end result is a loss of the transparent nature of the slide. Inspite of the fact that these raised borders may be somewhat effective inconfining the liquid, there continues to be a need for a slide or platewhich achieves confinement of the liquid upon a slide while maintainingtransparency of the glass or plate. It is the object of the presentinvention to provide such a slide.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention contemplates an analytic plate such as amicroscope slide or a diagnostic plate having a containment border forinhibiting migration of liquids or liquid samples thereon, wherein theborder is substantially transparent and is substantially flush with thesurface of the slide or plate and which covers only a portion of thesurface of the slide or plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a microscope slide constructed in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a side view of the slide of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of another version of a microscope slideconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a side view of the slide of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another version of a microscope slideconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of another version of a microscope slideconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of another version of a microscope slideconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of another version of a microscope slideconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention contemplates an analytic plate such as amicroscope slide or a diagnostic plate having a containment border forinhibiting migration of liquids or liquid samples thereon, wherein theborder is substantially transparent and is substantially flush with thesurface of the slide or plate and which covers only a portion of thesurface of the slide or plate.

Where used herein, the term “analytic plate” refers to those types ofplates such as microscope slides and diagnostic plates which are used,for example, in microscopic analysis or diagnostic analysis orcomparison of samples. Analytic plates are generally comprised of clearglass or plastic but may also comprise ceramic materials.

Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a glass microscope slide having thegeneral reference numeral 10 is shown. The slide 10 has a conventionallength, width and thickness as is well known to one of ordinary skill inthe art. The slide 10 has an upper surface 12 and a lower surface 14.Disposed upon a portion of the upper surface 12 is a liquid containmentborder 16 which in the version of FIG. 1A has a rectangular shape. Whereused herein the term “liquid containment border” or “containment border”refers to a transparent border which prevents passage of an aqueous ornonaqueous liquid thereacross. The containment border 16 surrounds acontainment area 18 of the upper surface 12 of the slide 10. Thecontainment border 16 forms a liquid barrier about the containment area18. When a liquid or liquid sample (not shown) is placed upon thecontainment area 18 of the slide 10 for analysis, the containment border16 prevents the spreading, leakage or migration of the liquid or liquidsample from the containment area 18, thus causing the sample to beretained in a discrete and confined location upon the slide 10. Whereused herein, the term liquid or liquid sample is intended to refer to aliquid material, or a liquid biological sample (e.g., blood, urine,plasma, or cerebrospinal fluid) which is desired to be localized on theslide.

The coating material which is used to form the containment border 16comprises a material which when applied to the slide 10 is preferablytransparent although it may have a color to indicate its position on theslide or have printed, by one of ordinary skill in the art, on the lowersurface 14 and/or upper surface 12 of the slide 10 information (lines ornumbers or symbols) indicating the position of the liquid border 16 onthe upper surface 12. The border 16 forms a molecular layer when dry andtherefore is substantially flush (level) with the upper surface 12 ofthe slide 10. The border 16 is therefore not raised above the uppersurface 12 to a degree that is visible to the naked eye. In fact, thecontainment border 16 typically has a thickness of less than 0.0001 inchand more generally less than 0.00001 inch.

In a preferred embodiment the coating material which forms thecontainment border 16 is a composition comprising a liquid repellantcompound dissolved in a volatile solvent. In a particularly preferredversion, the composition comprises an alkyl polysiloxane and a mineralacid mixed with a solvent such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,540,the specification of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Other polysiloxanes, silicones and silicon fluids whichcan permanently or at least temporarily bond to a glass surface andfunction in accordance with the present invention are also contemplatedand are known, and available commercially for use herein. Although apolysiloxane acid mixture is particularly preferred, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that any material whichcan adhere to the surface of a glass slide or plate and which forms asubstantially non-raised molecular layer as described above is suitablefor use in the present invention.

The coating can be applied to the slide 10 in any manner known in theart, for example, by brushing, by using a stamping device or by sprayingor by application from a device (pen-like) filled with the coating to beapplied to the slides or plates.

In an alternative method of application of the coating for thecontainment border 16, the analytic slide may be provided with aremovable raised layer of a material such as a silicone rubber which isapplied as a raised strip on a portion of the upper surface 12 of theslide 10 (not shown). Prior to the application of the liquid or liquidsample for treatment, the raised silicone strip is peeled away from theupper surface 12 of the slide 10, leaving a residual coating comprisinga containment border 16 in accordance with the present invention. Afterthe raised silicone rubber strip has been peeled away leaving thecontainment border 16, the analytic plate can be used in accordance withthe present invention.

It is another distinctive characteristic of the present invention thatafter the coating is applied to the slide 10 to form the containmentborder 16 and the coating material has dried thereon, the containmentborder 16 is highly resistant to chemical removal and physical removalby washing, scrubbing, soaking in acids, alkalis, organic solvents, andaqueous solvents. The slide 10 can therefore be used repeatedly withoutlosing its functionality.

The containment border 16 of the present slide 10 is furtherdistinguished from prior art slides with borders which have teflonborders or other physical barriers because the surface of such prior artslides must be treated before the teflon coating can adhere to the slide(e.g., using an adhesive) thus causing solvents to dissolve the adhesiveand the subsequent loss of the borders efficiency due to peeling and/orloss of the liquid confinement integrity of the border. The borders ofslides using coatings of teflon, epoxy, or paint are generally opaqueand are raised above the surface of the slide, unlike the borders on theslides of the present invention. In the present invention, there is nointervening layer (e.g., an adhesive) between the glass and the coatingcomprising the containment border 16.

Although the microscope slide of the present invention may consistsolely of a slide 10 with the containment border 16 thereon, in someembodiments the slide may further have a distinct marking surfacethereon for writing upon or for attaching a label thereto. FIGS. 2A and2B show such a slide, designated therein by the general referencenumeral 10 a. The slide 10 a has a marking surface 20 which is a“frosted” portion of the slide 10 a (i.e., a portion of the slide 10 awhich has been etched off or abraded). In an alternative version of sucha slide, the marking surface 20 may be an opaque epoxy or paintedcoating. Other means of forming a marking surface will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art. FIG. 2A further shows an alternativeversion of the invention wherein the containment border, designated bythe general reference numeral 22 comprises a pair of strips extendingfrom one edge of the slide to another, rather than forming a box patternas shown in slide 10 a. FIG. 3 shows a slide 10 b which is essentiallythe same as slide l0 a except the containment border is a border 24which forms an entire “box” on the surface 12 of the slide 10 b. FIG. 4shows an alternative embodiment of the invention, a slide 10 c having acontainment border 26 which comprises a pair of separate containmentareas 28. The separate containment areas 28 can therefore containseparate samples which are prevented from mixing by the portion 30 ofthe containment border 26 which separates the two containment areas 28.Although not specifically shown in the figure, the slide 10 c may beconstructed to comprise a plurality of separate containment areas 28greater than two for holding a plurality of samples, as will beunderstood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. FIG. 5 shows aslide 10 d having a pair of circular containment borders 32 whichsurround containment areas 34. Alternative versions of slide 10 d mayhave only a single circular containment border 32, or may have aplurality of circular containment borders 32. FIG. 6 shows a slide l0 ecomprising a containment border 36 having a diagonal border 38 extendingthereacross forming a pair of triangle shaped containment areas 40.Alternative versions of the slide 10 e may have only a single triangleshaped containment area 40, or may have a plurality of areas 40.Further, it will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the artthat the shapes of the containment areas are not limited only to thoseshown in the figures herein. The containment areas may have othershapes, such as ovals, stars, ellipses, pentagons, hexagons, trapezoids,or even non-geometric or fanciful shapes. Further, a single slide mayhave more than one particular shape of containment border disposedthereon, for example, a circle and a box or a pair of circles and a pairof boxes.

As is evident from the above, each slide contemplated herein has only aportion of the surface thereof coated with the coating material, withthe specific purpose for retaining a liquid or liquid sample upon adiscrete and predetermined portion of the slide.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, one or more of themicroscope slides or plates contemplated herein may be supplied as a kitalong with other components used in microscopic analysis of samples.Said other components may comprise stains and reagents commonly used bythose of ordinary skill, including but not limited to, stains, dyes,molecular biological reagents including monoclonal and polyclonalantibodies, and molecular probes and their detection reagents, and otheraqueous and non-aqueous processing reagents. Examples of aqueous andnon-aqueous processing reagents include xylene, toluene, acetone, andother organic and inorganic solvents, and alcohols, biological buffers,and aqueous reagents for use with antibodies, and molecular probes andtheir detection reagents.

Further, the examples described herein are not intended to limit thescope of the invention.

Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of the variouscomponents, elements and assemblies described herein or in the steps orthe sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of using an analytic plate, comprising: providing a glass, plastic, or ceramic plate having an upper surface and a lower surface and having a raised layer upon a portion of the upper surface, wherein the raised layer is removable; removing the raised layer thereby leaving a residual coating which forms a containment border on the upper surface and wherein the containment border surrounds a containment area for containing an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid or liquid sample, and wherein the containment border has a thickness of less than 0.00001 inch; and applying the liquid or liquid sample to the containment area of the glass, plastic, or ceramic plate.
 2. The method claim 1 wherein the analytic plate has information printed thereon indicating the position of the containment border, the printed information further comprising lines, numbers, or other symbols.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid or liquid sample applied to the plate is selected from a group of stains and biological reagents consistent with medical diagnosis comprising stains, dyes, aqueous and non-aqueous processing reagents, and molecular biological reagents and their detection reagents.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the liquid or liquid sample is an aqueous or non-aqueous processing reagent selected from the group consisting of xylene, toluene, acetone, alcohols, biological buffers, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, molecular probes and their detection reagents.
 5. A method of applying a containment border to an analytic plate, comprising: providing a glass or ceramic plate having an upper surface and a lower surface and having a raised layer upon a portion of the upper surface, wherein the raised layer is removable; and removing the raised layer thereby leaving a residual coating which forms a containment border on the upper surface and wherein the containment border surrounds a containment area for containing an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid or liquid sample, and wherein the containment border has a thickness of less than 0.00001 inch.
 6. The method claim 5 wherein the analytic plate has information printed thereon indicating the position of the containment border, the printed information further comprising lines, numbers, or other symbols.
 7. A analytic plate prepared by the method of claim
 5. 8. The method of claim 5 wherein the liquid or liquid sample applied to the plate is selected from a group of stains and biological reagents consistent with medical diagnosis comprising stains, dyes, aqueous and non-aqueous processing reagents, and molecular biological reagents and their detection reagents.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the liquid or liquid sample is an aqueous or non-aqueous processing reagent selected from the group consisting of xylene, toluene, acetone, alcohols, biological buffers, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, molecular probes and their detection reagents.
 10. A method of using an analytic plate, comprising: providing a glass, plastic, or ceramic plate having an upper surface and a lower surface and having a raised layer upon a portion of the upper surface, wherein the raised layer is removable; removing the raised layer thereby leaving a residual coating which forms a containment border on the upper surface and wherein the containment border surrounds a containment area for containing an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid or liquid sample, and wherein the containment border has a thickness of less than 0.0001 inch; and applying the liquid or liquid sample to the containment area of the glass, plastic, or ceramic plate.
 11. The method claim 10 wherein the analytic plate has information printed thereon indicating the position of the containment border, the printed information further comprising lines, numbers, or other symbols.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the liquid or liquid sample applied to the plate is selected from a group of stains and biological reagents consistent with medical diagnosis comprising stains, dyes, aqueous and non-aqueous processing reagents, and molecular biological reagents and their detection reagents.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the liquid or liquid sample is an aqueous or non-aqueous processing reagent selected from the group consisting of xylene, toluene, acetone, alcohols, biological buffers, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, molecular probes and their detection reagents.
 14. A method of applying a containment border to an analytic plate, comprising: providing a glass or ceramic plate having an upper surface and a lower surface and having a raised layer upon a portion of the upper surface, wherein the raised layer is removable; and removing the raised layer thereby leaving a residual coating which forms a containment border on the upper surface and wherein the containment border surrounds a containment area for containing an aqueous or non-aqueous liquid or liquid sample, and wherein the containment border has a thickness of less than 0.0001 inch.
 15. The method claim 14 wherein the analytic plate has information printed thereon indicating the position of the containment border, the printed information further comprising lines, numbers, or other symbols.
 16. An analytic plate prepared by the method of claim
 14. 17. The method of claim 14 wherein the liquid or liquid sample applied to the plate is selected from a group of stains and biological reagents consistent with medical diagnosis comprising stains, dyes, aqueous and non-aqueous processing reagents, and molecular biological reagents and their detection reagents.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the liquid or liquid sample is an aqueous or non-aqueous processing reagent selected from the group consisting of xylene, toluene, acetone, alcohols, biological buffers, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, molecular probes and their detection reagents. 